Escape to the sun and double Salamancas

The winter just seemed to be one never-ending round of grey gloom and rain. Oh, a gale every three or four days too and a few storms thrown in for good measure as well. Global warming seems more like global wind strength increase to us. Luckily we'd booked an escape from it all, assuming that the timing of the ferry to Spain didn't coincide with another storm.

This time, it didn't. However the M27 heading to Portsmouth ferry terminal was closed for yet another obscure reason. They must be running out of reasons to shut the thing soon. Please! We made a nice detour and tried to re-join the motorway only to find the closure went one junction further than they advertised and the traffic info on line showed. Travelling in the UK is just so much fun.

We'd baked in enough time for such chaos so happily boarded the Brittany ferries ship Salamanca and enjoyed the 30 odd hour sailing to Spain.  Fortunately the Spanish border folks were not using the new EU fingerprint / photo ID system that seems to be causing monster queues for non EU citizens in many airports, so we got through the checks in a sensible time with just a stamp in the passports:

 Where do you go after disembarking the Salamanca? To Salamanca of course.

A pretty quiet and enjoyable drive inland took us to the Parador hotel there. It is unusual in being a new build as opposed to a converted monastery / castle like most of the others. Still impressive though:

sitting up on a hill with views across the river to the amazing cathedral and city centre:

We had a couple of nights there, enjoying typically excellent Parador food and a day walking around the city centre which is stuffed full of impressive buildings like this:

and squares like this one:

As you can see, we also had SUN. A rare treat for us which was very welcome. The storks were no respecters of religion. They nested everywhere high, including this church bell tower:

 

We did wonder if they were deaf or just flew off for a while when the bell was sounded, or if the campanologists stayed away during the time the birds were trying to hatch their young. They seemed well settled. We were too, enjoying the local coffee shops, friendly folks and lovely weather. There was one restaurant that looked less appealing though:

and it was a good thing that Izzy our goddog was not with us:

Kind of a "bring your dog and we will rub it out" message. One shop was way more friendly, offering everything you could possibly want in one small emporium:

We resisted visiting it despite the many treats on offer.

All in all a good place to start a Spanish / Portuguese road trip. Typical Parador hospitality, lovely city and weather, all good.